connell: i'm connell mcshane. you know him well, he ran for president. he wants to do away with the federal reserve. his followers could still play a big role who ends up in the white house. who is ron paul going to vote for in this election? we might find out. he will join us in a few minutes. dagen: that election is about jobs, and the latest report does show some hope in hiring by private companies. but much more is needed to bring down unemployment. connell: and richard branson is coming on. he thinks america is bouncing back. he's selling $200,000 tickets to go to space on the street to prove it. dagen: and mcshane looked way too excited to be -- [inaudible]. that photo you posted on your facebook page was crazy looking. connell: crazy looking? dagen: nicole petallides is standing by. stocks now and every 15 minutes. what do you know nicole? nicole: i just met richard branson a few minutes ago.

great guy. i look forward to that interview. remember yesterday we talked about metro pcs it was soaring. all this on talk of the deal that deutsche telekom was moving in and they were going to make a deal for t-mobile usa. now that is in fact the case. and now metro pcs giving back some of yesterday's gains. down 6% right now so t-mobile usa and metro pcs are going to combine and create the value leader in u.s. wireless marketplace. so there you have it. 12.74. the dow and nasdaq and s&p right now all with up arrows. we are seeing the dollar stronger today. spain saying they don't need a bailout today. of course i always continue to watch those european headlines. bank stocks retail drugs and the transports all have up arrows. dagen and connell? dagen: thank you nicole. connell: finally tonight is the night. president obama and mitt romney will square off in their first presidential debate. dagen: peter barnes is in denver where the opponents will go

toe-to-toe. hey peter. peter: hey dagen and connell. listen, mitt romney hopes these depates will help -- debates will help him overtake president obama and pull ahead here and use these debates to try to close the race with the american people. the new poll shows the race tightening, 49% for obama, 46% for romney, among likely voters, within the margin of error. there's a lot of debate over whether these debates can make a difference in these elections. looking in history, they have in in the past. in 1960 they helped john kennedy overtake richard nixon. 1980 helped reagan over take carter. 2000 helped bush overtake gore. romney was behind in 02 race for governor in massachusetts, he was trailing badly six weeks before the election. the campaign reorganized, romney

pulled his advisors together. they decided on a new strategy which was to get tough and get specific and romney went on to win that 2002 race for governor in massachusetts. so we will see if he can repeat history here with these debates starting tonight. dagen and connell? connell: peter barnes reporting from denver for us. let's go to ron paul now, republican congressman from texas and former presidential candidate himself. he's calling in today on the telephone from texas. congressman paul, always good to talk to you. if a paul supporter is watching the debate tonight and needs to be convinced by romney, what does romney have to do, do you think? >> make sure he sounds a little bit different than the other and be convincing that his policies are a lot different. many people that joined the freedom movement were frustrated, you know work the whole possess because they can't -- you know, with the whole process because they can't see enough difference. when it comes to foreign policy,

they are very similar. with the federal reserve, it is similar. our supporters see too much similarity and i think he has to show that he is quite different, just not on management style, but really philosophically. that's what so many people are looking for. connell: the supporters had a lot of enthusiasm for you in the primaries when you ran for president, how do you think they will break down in the support of the election, 80/20 romney, closer to 50/50? what do you think they will move towards? >> i think they will probably go different places. some will be angry by the republicans the way they were treated at the convention. they may not show up. some may vote libertarian. some may go with with romney. actually some of the young people because of foreign policy issue might even go with obama. it is hard to say. i know one thing for certain, that they are not all going to the one place because they're very individualistic and they don't see the consequences as

actually the same. so i think it would be very difficult to predict. connell: could be a big deal by the way especially in some of these swing states if they don't show up. who are you going to vote for? >> haven't decided yet. at least i have decided not to announce it. so no, i'm going to sort of sit tight for a little bit longer. connell: that's fine if you don't want to announce it obviously. some people have made a big deal how you haven't endorsed romney. have you really not decided or you are just not going to tell us? >> in a way about voting for somebody, i obviously didn't, you know -- i haven't announced support for romney. it's back to frustration level in not seeing a dramatic choice in the way the system works. like tonight there's a debate going on, if you come to this conclusion that the candidates aren't all that different, why

do we have to just listen to two of them? there are other people who, you know, are technically are capable of winning because they are -- >> like johnson you are talking about? >> yeah, in this country you have probably less democracy than some of the other countries that we're trying to say are not following good democracy. connell: johnson, you'd probably support him? >> i haven't decided that. connell: let me ask you one more question before i let you go. we have all this talk about the undecided voters out there. i think reuters said it is about 6% of the electorate. different polls say different things. is there something that mitt romney could still do at this late hour to convince you ron paul to support him? >> bring the troops home, you know, and quit this preaching of a foreign policy where he wants to expand our presence overseas, and that's a big, big thing with especially the young people that have been in the freedom

movement. so foreign policy would have to change. and he'd have to give more than token support for a token audit of the federal reserve. have to say well there's something wrong with central banking and economic planning because that is the reason we have such difficulty, you know, in the economy because of federal reserve policy. likelihood of hearing this, very very slim. and maybe seeing how would you balance a budget? in our campaign we had a precise plan of cutting a trillion dollars and balancing the budget in three years. you know, we're in this horrendous crisis and neither one of them are going to say anything, oh, maybe we ought to cut something. there's no proposal to cut anything. it's also tinkering around with massive automatic increases and the american people are starting to wake up and realize it is all fiction and they are not

serious. connell: congressman paul, thanks as always. >> thanks. connell: fox business network, beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern live from denver, neil cavuto will be on the next hour to talk about the debate. neil cavuto. dagen: the economy will be a big focus of tonight's debate. adp the payroll processing firm came out earlier this morning and reported that 162,000 private sector jobs were added last month. more than expected. to weigh in on that, and the debate, the head of u.s. interest rate strategy at ubs is joining us now from stanford connecticut. chris, on the debate, is there anything that could be said tonight that could move the treasury markets, that could send yields higher, potentially? >> good question. you know, we're focused predominantly right now on the u.s. economy and the sluggish pace of growth. we have an eye towards europe. and we're wrestling with, you know, these flows that are being driven by the fed's qe program which really, you know, puts the hammer down on the mortgage

market. but the debate tonight will for a few hours change everyone's focus, and we're going to be looking at the two candidates, and we're going to try to see if anything can come out of this conversation tonight which might change the narrative which might make our perceptions of what the polls are telling us somewhat different. you know, i think there are clearly going to be different choices made depending on who wins this election in early november, and if the market comes in tomorrow morning with a sense that the numbers have shifted a bit in favor of a more even race, then perhaps, you know, we'll get a little bit more movement in prices. dagen: movement which direction? i would assume that if you think that one candidate, say, mitt romney will be more aggressive at tackling the debt, that would be good for treasuries, no? >> well, you know, the perception actually that we have here is that if we got an obama victory and a republican congress, senate and house, that

you might actually be able to get some movement on the debt because then both parties get their hands dirty with the tax reform and the entitlement cuts. if romney were to win, i think the perception at least, you know, without thinking about the entitlements, reform, that we think there would certainly be some good forward movement on that. i think the perception would rather be that he might clear some of these regulatory burdens which come out of the dodd frank legislation, which come out of the healthcare, and that might allow the economy to do better, so you get, you know, the equity market to respond a bit more positively, perhaps, and treasuries a bit more negatively. dagen: got you on that, chris. one last thing, though, we got that report, speaking of the economy, from adp earlier today, is there any reason for us and you to believe that job creation will pick up significantly in say the next six months? >> i don't think significantly, no. the adp report is nice.

we like it because it gives us something to trade, but there's been very little correlation between adp data and non-farm payrolls. and frankly as we go from where we stand now into the end of the year, and the first part of next year, you know, we think the economy is going to be very sluggish as people sit back and wait to see how this fiscal cliff issue is dealt with by the new legislature and executive. dagen: pull the belts tight, that's all we can say. chris, thank you. good to see you as always. thanks for making sense of it all. be well. >> thank you. connell: we're going to get back to this american airlines story. they are now saying american that you should have no problem finding a safe seat on their airplanes. dagen: speaking of pulling the belts tight, really irrelevant if the seats aren't bolted in. and connell talks with virgin founder sir richard branson on the economy and selling $200,000 tickets into space on the streets of new york. interesting. also take a look at oil. connell: might want to think about -- well never mind.

dagen: me? to the moon? connell: well -- sort of.

dagen: quarter after the hour stocks now and every 15 minutes.

nicole, looking at best buy? nicole: that's right dagen and connell. looking closely at best buy which is higher by about 4%. why are we looking at it? once again, richard schultz, the founder is back in the news concerning best buy. and this is because according to reuters and other reports that he and at least four private equity companies are examining the books of best buy. and this could possibly lead to an 11 billion dollars buyout. and this due diligence obviously which is underway, we thought it was sort of done, and now it just shows that maybe there is progress and maybe it is going forward. back to you. connell: now to american airlines saying it is resuming the stalled contract negotiations with the pilots union and doing so as early as today. nearly half of americans fleet of boeings, 47 jets taken out of service earlier this week make sure no more of the seats go loose. the airline says a seat clamp

was improperly installed. dagen: that's very reassuring. connell: our friend walt mossberg is coming up, talking smart phones. he says if you are in it for the maps, maybe going a different direction other than the iphone. we will talk google maps with walt. dagen: i like maps. i'm a nerd. connell: how about currencies? do you like currencies? 1.2908. if you don't go to the moon, you could always go to, well, europe. we will be right back.

>> at 21 minutes past the hour, i have your fox news minute. at least 40 people are dead after a series of explosions ripped through syria's largest city. the blast came within minutes of each other and hit close to a military officers club and hotel which housed pro government forces. the state department apparently stayed out of the dispute between contractors over security at the libyan consulate before the september 11th attack there. according to letters obtained exclusively by fox news, the company felt security provided

by its operations partner was substandard. but the state department declined to be involved in bringing in a third party to improve the situation. and the next time you feel a cold coming on, you may want to rethink on loading up on vitamin d. researchers in new zealand found while the nutrient does boost the immune system, taking large doses does not appear to prevent colds. those are your news headlines on the fox business network. now back to dagen. dagen: thank you. will government regulation come up in tonight's debate? well, it's on the minds of some business people, including former bb&t ceo. i talked to him earlier at the commit forum on corporate responsibility and regulation. and i asked him what exactly he's trying to accomplish? here's some of that. >> this is a -- what i'm involved in is a debate over sarbanes-oxley. this is the 10th anniversary of

sarbanes-oxley, and the issue was it a good or bad thing? of course i think it was a bad thing. i think it's radically increased accounting costs and it's in fact not reduced fraud risk which is what it was intended to do. dagen: well the government has gone in an all together different direction because the business world is facing a great deal more regulation today than it did ten years ago. is it impossible to reverse that? >> that's a great question. there has been an exponential increase in the regulatory impact on business, which is clearly reducing our standard of living, because businesses are spending their intellectual capital, their time and energy making government bureaucrats happy instead of creating jobs producing wealth and innovating. sarbaines oxley is part of that trend. one of the things i taught about that people don't realize, i have been teaching at business school wake forest university, we have people lined up to become accountants.

instead of becoming engineers and scientists or even business leaders, we're misdirecting resources into a very irrational, noneffective risk management process that's generated by regulations, not by the market in this case sarbanes-oxl sarbanes-oxley. >> thank you so kindly for giving my alma mater a plug there. very much appreciate it. >> great school. dagen: but by the way, in terms of because you talk about accountants and we talk about the debate tonight, what do you think is the most critical issue in terms of domestic policy that needs to be discussed that maybe isn't getting enough attention on the campaign trail? >> well, obviously i think the focus ought to be on what's necessary to return our economy to what i call normality. and in general, what's necessary is just flat less government. less regulation. less interference in markets. and also a rational strategy where people can look forward and say well, we know we're

going to have a rational tax system that doesn't punish wealth creation, that we're going to have a government that has expenses under control, and i think people need to see it as a systematic process towards a long-term good, and then they might be willing to take some short-term pain but that hasn't really been presented effectively. dagen: how would less regulation though prevented the financial collapse four years ago? >> well it's interesting the financial crisis was created by government policy. we didn't have a deregulation of financial industry. the regulation of the financial industry was all-time high. we had three new laws sarbanes-oxley, the patriot act, the privacy act, what we had was misregulation. what caused the financial crisis was the federal reserve in early 2000 trying to avoid a correction, made us all think we were wealthier than we are which caused us to overconsume. that ended up in housing,

massive bubble in housing market. dagen: how much has the federal reserve created for the country just four years out, do you think? >> i think it's scary. it may work out, but we're going to be lucky. this really reminds me of the 60s and 70s. the lead time on inflation is long. and people don't realize that. by the way, qe 3 or all these qes are simply the federal reserve printing money. they like to make it obscure but all they are doing is printing money. dagen: thanks to former bb&t ceo john allison. scary is the operative word. connell: but a good interview. we have sir richard branson coming up in the hour, talking about when you should go to school or if you should skip class to start a company, go to space, all kinds of things.

richard branson coming up in the hour. dagen: but first, walt mossberg is talking about which of the smart phones is better when it comes to maps. he reviews the google maps for android phones. and we're all winners here. here are some winners: connell: no we're not. [laughter] with all the opinions about stocks out there, how do you know which ones to follow? the equity summary score consolidates the ratings of up to 10 independent research providers

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stocks now and every 15 minutes. going to talk about monsanto and their earnings. nicole: we are looking at monsanto very closely. the numbers they posted for the quarter which were basically a loss again. the stock is trading down 1.3%. the world's largest seed company. and sales of corn seeds dropped 12%. cotton sales were also off. they did well with soybeans and vegetable seed sales. the big picture did post a fourth quarter quarterly loss. as a result you are seeing this move. and the outlook was also conservative for the new year. back to you. dagen: thank you nicole. breaking news, europe's markets closing right now. ashley webster is here with more. mr. webster? ashley: hey dagen yeah the latest jobs number in the u.s. gave a brief boost to european markets today. but guess what? the uncertainty over spain continues to weigh heavy on investors. the closing bell though a mixed picture, the ftse up about a quarter of a percent. dax also moving higher by about

quarter of a percent. contact in paris moving -- cac in paris moving slightly lower. reports claim an official request could come as early as this weekend, but spanish prime minister says nope, no way, not happening. the latest euro zone pmi index falling again in september as new orders declined while layoffs increased. these numbers suggest the region returning to a recession in the the third quarter. and how bad is it in greece you ask? well, dozens of angry greek parents handed over their children to bewildered officials today. it was a symbolic protest against the dropping of tax breaks for large families. the parents held banners reading stop killing our families in one hand and strollers in the other as they marched straight into a tax director's office. greece pledging austerity measures worth about 12 billion euros for next year and 2014 to try and secure more financial aid from international lenders. that's what life is like in greece right now. back to you.

dagen: thank you ashley. connell: let's go to apple and google and no maps -- google maps op the latest iphone -- on the latest iphone, ipad, it's been a mess. walt mossberg it says it could give other phones what they have been looking for. dagen: joining us is walt mossberg. you reviewed the google maps for android phones. broadly speaking, how good are they? >> they are very good. they are not perfect, dagen. although google's working on this for seven years. he have a lot more data. -- they have a lot more data and more accuracy than the new fledgling apple maps. i did find in my test at least a couple of inaccuracies including google advising me to make an illegal left turn which they are now fixing in their database. overall it's a very rich feature filled and useful app on android. connell: dagen said this already

but to be clear, this is the app for android, the google maps for android, not the one you would use on the iphone. apparently they are coming out with a new one there as well. i guess the big question for people who have ordered the iphone or are thinking about it. is this enough? it has been a mess we will all acknowledge that for apple, their new mapping service not being up to what google puts forward, but is this enough to choose a different phone? choose android over iphone? >> i don't think so, overall. at least not for most people. maps are important. but the truth is, despite all the mess and all the apology from apple, the apple maps in most cases, really all cases that i have tried, do find the location accurately. i'm well aware that not everyone has had that experience. there are lots of examples on the web, but it's not as if the apple apps don't work at all. the thing is if you use maps a lot, if you are on the road and you're using these phones for

navigation and for whatever other reason you -- it's just a heavy part of your phone usage, then, yeah, i think it would make a difference in your choice of phones. it would be maybe the tipping factor, but i still overall think there's a ton of things going for the iphone, which is not to excuse apple here. dagen: walt, do you have any sense of how long will it take apple potentially to markedly improve those maps? i don't want to say -- i almost said catch up to google, but i don't -- >> well, no, it is catching up to google. dagen, that's a fabulous question, as many of your questions are. here's the thing you have to keep in mind. there are really two issues here, one is features and richness and, you know, that kind of stuff. and the other is accuracy. basic accuracy which involves having the databases hooked into the maps, apple has licensed a

very respectable big giant worldwide database from tom-tom, but there's something about the way either they have not hooked it up right or, you know, there are certain places in the world where even a big database like that needs help from additional licenses. so they have got to really work fast and hard on making sure it is at least accurate. in terms of features, like, you know, the google maps can look inside macy's and tell you where the departments are. they can give you the names of dorms on a college campus. that's going to take apple some time. i mean, apple's obviously got money and talent, and they can do that, but maps are hard, and they take time. so i think they will probably get the accuracy mostly fixed in a shorter period of time. if i were apple, that's what i'd be focused on, and the features will come along probably a little behind that. connell: pretty good stuff.

second guest that is telling dagen she has a good question, that's pretty good. dagen: coming from walt, that's big-time. connell: it is big-time. dagen: walt thank you very much. >> thank you guys. dagen: coming up -- connell: we will have the interview with sir richard branson, he says we've turned the corner, we are certainly out of recession. he said this could be the proof. >> [inaudible]. it was actually quite a good productive day.

>> i'm lori rothman with your fox business brief. activity in the services sector unexpectedly picking up last month. the ism nonmanufacturing index could provide information for the presidential debate tonight.

amerigroup postpones shareholder vote on 4.5 billion dollars well point bid. and that is the latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper. ♪

[ male announcer ] how do you make 70,000 trades a second... ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared inrmation... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge, dell has the technology and services to help you solve it. connell: sir richard branson one of the successful entrepreneurs in the world. he has a new book, "secrets they won't teach you in business school". the virgin group founder set up

a makeshift -- [inaudible] -- outside the new york stock exchange and was offering advice people who following him on twitter ask him any question they want. we met up with him and asked him what it is that the business schools miss. >> to be honest i'm not even sure it makes sense for people to spend three or four years in business school. i think the money you spend doing that, you could actually spend a little bit of it in starts a business and going getting out there in the real world and just, you know, learning, you know, learning in the jungle, learning to suive. i think you will most likely get further than if you want to business school, so, you know, for most of the most successful people i know didn't go to business school. connell: that's interesting because i don't know if it's a new trend or what it is, there's some out there here's some capital for you to start a

business. >> i think if you are going to want to go set up a business, i mean -- [inaudible]. i suspect they will learn more by using that money to start a business if they are successful, they won't have wasted four years of business school. connell: if they fail? >> if they fail, they would have learned a lot more than they would have learned at business school. actually in some ways you learn more from trying something and failing than actually succeeding. connell: i was thinking about the numbers on it. we are in the middle of a presidential election here in the u.s. you hear these statistics all the time, unemployment rate about 8% in the u.s., for college graduates, much lower, 4% range than people who didn't go to college. you would say what to that? >> i mean, look, if you are looking for an insurance policy, then go to a university. because, you know, you're more

likely to get a job. but if you're going to become an entrepreneur, i would say don't waste your time going to college or business school because -- just get on and do it. you will learn more that way. connell: you've been in all kinds of different businesses. we're sitting -- this is like a plane literally from your virgin airlines, i guess, and the idea you would meet at the bar in a plane and people are supposed to come in here and they are asking you questions. it is a good concept. what are the questions like? >> well, you know, i think we're the only airline in the world who for the last 20 years has a bar in our upper class and, you know, people meet people. i've known people who have gotten engaged, you know, all sorts of things. today i've had pretty well every question you can imagine. lots of people pitching ideas. connell: i bet. anybody want to go to space by

the way? >> off the street people have walked up here and bought the tickets. it was actually quite a good productive day. i'm going to set up an upper class bar on the streets as well. connell: 200 grand a pop, that's next year? >> that's next year, yes. we are very nearly there now. very very exciting. connell: give me an idea, i wanted to ask you this while we have here, where do you think we are, general question, are things improving, the united states, is the economy improving around the world, or are we in danger of sliding back into another recession or have we cleared that and things are getting better? >> i think the united states really is coming out of the recession now, and i think, you know, the next few years, it should go up and up. i think we already feel. that i think as far as -- i think we already feel that. i think as far as europe is concerned, private business is

generally doing well, it is up to the government to make sure they don't go slide backwards. connell: asia, china? >> look, i mean india and china -- [inaudible] -- instead of doing 12% growth they may be doing 7% growth. definitely things have slowed a bit, but it's by no means disastrous. connell: let me come back here to the u.s. for a second. you say things are on the up and up and we have turned this corner and things are getting better. where do you see that? >> i can tell -- we're just investing hundreds of millions, and we're investing that money based on the kinds of load factors we're getting and, you know, i think an airline is quite a good barometer of an economy, so virgin america, our domestic airline here is doing good. it is selling seats.

it's a gut feeling that things have turned. connell: there you go, sir richard branson. very interesting guy. involved in a lot of different things. thinks we have turned the corner. dagen: now on to sports news. detroit tigers cabrera standing on the edge of history. third baseman leading the american league in batting average home runs and rbis, otherwise known as the triple crown. last time it was achieved was by boston back in 1967. that's why mr. walt mossberg would be interested in this story. only 13 players are part of that exclusive club. cabrera had a pair of singles and drove in two in last night's loss against kansas city. connell: walt is a big red sox fan. the vice president's latest

comment is drawn a lot of criticism. dagen: let's take a look at the nasdaq winners today.

>> how they can justify, how they can justify raising taxes on the middle class -- [inaudible] -- the last four years. connell: these comments of vice president biden yesterday on the middle class, a lot of people on the right are jumping on them,

but there are also some on the left, saying the middle class has been ignored or the obama administration hasn't done enough for the middle class. former tarp inspector neil barofsky, he goes after the treasury secretary geithner, he gets fired up questioning if geithner should have been in a position to do what he's done. >> i think there's a strong argument that perhaps he never should have been hired in the first place. i mean he was part of the regulatory failure that produced the financial crisis, as president of the new york fed and i think certainly given the policy choices, there's a strong case that he should have been fired, but, you know, on the other hand, it's not as if he was making these decisions in a vacuum. i have no reason to believe that the white house wasn't behind all these policy decisions as well. connell: it's a pretty long interview but worth watching, foxbusiness.com from adam shapiro. dagen: be careful what you wish for in terms of a replacement. oil paring some of its losses

after a surprise decline in the u.s. oil supplies last week. connell: let's go to sandra smith, has the details in the trade today at the cme. sandra: the numbers are out and they should be somewhat bullish for the market, but oil is plunging. take a look at the numbers just out from the energy department. the expectation was for a build of 1 1/2 million barrels of oil. we actually got a drawdown of 482,000 barrels last week. the market is reacting to what appears to be very weak economic data that's coming out of china and europe. we have a guest who is going to comment on this. what's the deal? these were bullish numbers but we're seeing oil sell off significantly. >> the fundamentals can't override the fact we have weakening economies in europe and china. at the same time, we have had this kind of qe 3 hangover. that was a lot of money. we all started to realize as trader ifs this doesn't work out -- traders if this doesn't work out, we're in trouble. slowing economy in europe as

well as in china, and at the same time this hangover of qe 3 maybe not working out. kind of had some of these assets kind of decline in price. sandra: back below $90 a barrel, crucial pivot point for a lot of traders i have been talking to, what happens now? >> we're going to probably hang out around the levels 85 and 95 until the election is over. i think we have real geopolitical risks just after the election. that is not going to go away. the iran problems is not going to go away. sandra: you mentioned gasoline prices, a lot of people were talking about gasoline topping out at these levels, but you are saying it is because the oil -- the gasoline has already been purchased. >> you know, if your corner shops fill up its tanks at higher prices he's not going to lower it until he gets rid of it. when those guys fill up again, that's when it ratchets down. sandra: you mentioned the elections, they are crucial for the oil and overall emergency market, scott, what does a

romney win, what does an obama win mean for the oil markets? >> well, ultimately the overarching feeling is that if romney wins -- wins, it would be better for the economy, that would drive the oil market higher, as well as the other commodities and equities. i think if you're a businessman, you are looking for a romney win. if not, you know, obama is your guy, right now i think that's going to be the case. sandra: scott, live from the floor in chicago, where there's a lot of activity and anticipation for the debates tonight. you just heard it, traders are watching that very closely. it is a big influence on what's happening in business right down here on the floor. back to you guys. connell: almost there now. sandra thanks. sandra smith. dagen: we are almost nine hours away from tonight's debate and neil cavuto is standing by with up to the minute coverage and insight. he will join our coming cohosts in just a matter of moments from denver. connell: and that would be dennis and tracy in today for the next hour of markets now. they have their own debate on who is really better for the

markets, president obama or mitt romney, so that's coming up. markets now continues in just a moment.

talk about anything we discussed in the break. connell: the most ridiculous conversation -- and tracy contributed to it. with the next hour where they have a big debate set up and good things to come. [talking over each other] dagen: show up at a minimum. tracy: i am tracy byrnes. dennis: i am dennis kneale. with 9 hours to go until the first presidential debate polls show the contents narrowing. neil cavuto joining us live from

the debate site in denver and the debate in moment who is better for the markets? president obama or mitt romney? that one is over. tracy: all about jobs and numbers. good news in the private sector. dennis: good news for bald guys in business. we have the hair raising facts on that. stocks now every 15 minutes. nicole petallides on the floor of the stock exchange. the dow up and i am happy. nicole: if you are happy about some up arrows you got what you wanted. and dow jones industrials are up 44 points and the tech and nasdaq up 1/2% and the s&p 5001453 so with stock about a trading range pushing to the upper end of that. also look at them names on the move and focusing on netflix. netflix is the no. one performer in the s&p 500 day.

and gains of the citigroup call. customer satisfaction is doing well and for the first time to improve since last summer and a buy rating for the online movie rental company. buy rating creates a move of 9% to the upside from citigroup. tracy: see you in 15 minutes. it is 9 hours and counting until president obama and mitt romney square off in their first presidential debate. joining us live in denver where he hosts our debate coverage beginning at 8:00 eastern. neil cavuto. i know every one wants mitt romney to come out swinging tonight but that is what it is going to take to win this thing? neil: he has to close the deal to show he has a chance so i can

understand that argument but often it is not just the debate but where i am standing now behind the auditorium where both sides selva winning points of their candidates arguments even if it is counted as a bad night. they always try to make this the place they do it so you will see this pact inches apart and everyone pitching their arguments in what is be sent to leave the spin room. thousands of journalists converging on this room in this location to make the post debate as big as the debate itself. if you think about it this is how it is sold after words. you go back to 1976 with gerald ford desperately trying to see his people make up for poland is not under soviet occupation, and

-- effectively torpedoed gerald ford that evening and lost the election as a result but that is debatable but what it is not debatable is how important this is to the challenger. and he has got smarts the performance and economic numbers but for some reason, and delivering passion. i heard you both mentioning the prior hour and a variety of ways. if you are mitt romney, if your barack obama you take a look at those adp numbers today. did you look at the i s m manufacturing numbers. the trend is my friend. i keep repeating the arguments on both sides but the argument is the makes a more compelling case? tracy: when did it happen that the president had to be my

drinking partner? why do i have to like the guy? we should be looking at the person who does the job. you are not supposed to like your parents. they're supposed to take care of you. it becomes a personality contest hasn't it? neil: it often does. debates can -- and the rap against mitt romney is you seem a leader out of touch it an economic argument you benefit the middle class you don't say so great upon. if you are the president and get a wrap for shepherding the economy and keep insisting it is getting better but most americans don't feel nearly as confident as you do you could look clueless. you could look out of touch. any comments -- looking at the

watch or al gore huffing and puffing. these might seem like just sort of aberrant events. sound like an overused term but it could feed the narrative of the election or the impression people have of view as a candidate. it could be very defining. ronald reagan was particularly haying third. he didn't let on about the criticisms. he felt the carter campaign waged against him and the distortion and lies of the campaign and wanted to settle a score in the debate but he left it with their you go again. didn't get involved in the minutia or detailing each and every spike. just some it up in a comment like that. not saying this debate can survive 90 minutes on little things but expects some of that tonight. dennis: wall street has decided this election is over and obama has won. the debate starting tonight

confirm that or is there a chance the debate could make the difference and shift the tide here? >> this is the same wall street that earlier in the year thought mitt romney had won. i might respect some of these guys stock-picking acumen but i have serious doubts about their political acumen. i will leave the calendar to decide how this is judged. any snapshot at any moment is just a snapshot in a moment. might seem simplistic but bears watching that we could go the president was up by 10 points in ohio. some have it in four points. one pole before joining new was separated by a single point. my point in saying that is things rapidly changed. they are very fluid in a race that is very tight but in some of these swing states isn't as tight but getting tighter.

i wouldn't put much stock in folks who -- no offense -- trade stocks. tracy: exactly why everyone has to watch these tonight. a reminder again neil cavuto will be live tonight at 8:00 eastern for television's best debate coverage. he has a killer lineup of guests joining him as well. make sure you tune in at 8:00 p.m. eastern. dennis: democratic strategist chris coteinas and gary kaltbaum. markets think obama is going to win. if romney when the knockout punch tonight could you see stocks start a new rally? >> stocks have been in rally mode for the last year. i don't think there will be a big difference. i am not changing my strategy and for me the big thing going on now is the fed. not necessarily anything obama

war romney does tonight. dennis: if romney is going to throw it has to be come early. hourly and why? >> if there is a challenger and everyone is tuning in to see how you measure up to the president you have got to find that debate right off the top. what i advise candidates in the past is punch your opponent in the gut and shake him. president obama is a soft debater but romney is coming in with low expectations about high expectations in a sense that he has to do well to change the dynamics of this race. the polls are tight and he has an opportunity to win but he has not run a good campaign by any stretch of the imagination. dennis: the worst campaign you have seen in your entire history of political watching. >> when you look at what this campaign has done -- the romney campaign has done it is not practiced.

in terms of the convention is a perfect example and mistakes since then, put him in one terrible spot after another. dennis: what does romney have to do tonight? disappointed he didn't make a better sell on the economy. didn't hear much from him. >> he has to do what happens in the midterm elections. he has to talk about the numbers and an additional $6 trillion in debt when the president promised he would lower the deficits by 50%. he has to talk about the massive government spending and government takeover of our lives. that won the midterm elections. i am not sure most of the country wants something like that but he can't say it. he has to say it with passion and that is what is missing. there has been -- what i call oomf to what he speaks. just more speech speech. he has to show action and oomf and he has a great case and could be an interesting evening.

dennis: when you think about it, the stunner at the election is close at all. the economy is in tatters. obama should be losing. what is your device to obama tonight? how should be addressed the economy? >> one of the mistakes the romney campaign made in trying to blame the president for the economy when you look at the reality most americans believe george bush shares more responsibility because the president inherited a mess. if that is the perception of voters try to shake that perception when it is not working it is a problem. with respect to the president he has an advantage. doesn't get all the blame. it was a terrible fiscal crisis and terrible unemployment crisis. dennis: what is your bike to obama? >> the president needs to paint the picture and be clear about where we have been and where we are and where we are going. make it clear the future is

brighter. dennis: i am sick of the president blaming the other guy for problems he helped create. what do you say? >> my furnace sauce going into this is romney has to state you have been the president for the last four years, not george w. bush. we came out of some real problems in 2008 but the economy was getting better. the administration was putting out of beds about how the economy is better and it went south again because of his policies. he has to jump all over that. you are the president. the box tops with your debt and enough is enough. leadership is about taking the blame when you are doing something wrong in taking credit when you do something right. >> when the president created five million jobs, private-sector jobs, the president hasn't turned the scotty economy around and it is not where it needs to be he has done an incredible job -- [talking over each other]

dennis: thank you very much. good news. private sector jobs this morning. are we heading for recession anyway? liz macdonald will investigate. tracy: the bad news from american airlines led to strong contract talks. as we do every day at this time let's look at how oil is trading down $2.83. under $90 a barrel. $89.06. we will be right back.

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dennis: more problems at hewlett-packard. 26,000 employees will leave the company, and more time for this battleship turns around. tracy: nicole petallides on the floor of the stock exchange. the dow was up 36 points and h p not having a good day. nicole: when you look at hewlett-packard it is a big lagger in the dow jones industrials.

heading a multi year low. a quick track looks like it goes back to 2,003. moments ago sitting at 1590 and may have dropped below that so you can see around session lows on hewlett-packard. when you talk about what we were hearing from this analysts conference nothing too exciting. catalysts giving a boost and you're hearing other words like a challenging year for a hewlett-packard and when you hear a challenge and all those words don't mean growth, great good news so you are not seeing it hitting new lows. tracy: fix it before you drive it. we will see you in 15 minutes. after selling yesterday at highest level since december, the house traded down 3%. phil flynn of price futures group and fox contributor joins

us from the cme. >> natural gas producers sing christmas came early. they are selling into this rally all the way up and increasing selling as prices go higher. it is anticipating we might get a normal winter unlike last winter which was the warmest in 100 years and an early cold front that cause a lot of buying in the business market but producers are not buying in or selling into a. there will be a pretty good injection, normal with five year average and the fact that supplies end up above the five year average. seems like you are pricing in winter this week. you may miss it because by the time the weather comes, prices may go down so in inverse reaction, in cold weather. tracy: i am doing the go way

snow dances. >> whatever you are doing keep it up. [talking over each other] >> i am joining you. >> the economy, central focus of the debate. and 62,000 private payroll jobs out there. big jobs report friday. and liz macdonald is here with the bottom line. liz: numbers show slowing jobs in august numbers. and will we are seeing here is the trend going down. and with 96,000 jobs in august you likely see an uptick to 8.2%

in the jobless rate. you see it is basically a round $250,000 a month. and keep up with population growth. and slightly weaker job growth. that is the bottom line going forward. and the average job growth and around 150 cam month. we want to see 200 k. and keep the jobless rate down. dennis: it started peanut butter but a major national food recall is spreading. other products you need to watch out for. tracy: let's look at how the world currencies are faring against the u.s. dollar. everything down. we will be right back.

>> 24 minutes past the hour this is your fox news minute. the fbi is using facebook and twitter to find a terror

suspect. and massachusetts man may have fled to syria for allegedly obtaining military training for the purpose of killing american soldiers. a new mexico company has expanded its recall for roasted peanuts and related products included better. under multiple brand names from major retailers after salmonella was linked to peanut butter sold at trader joe's. for some, some on tv. the new york yankees lead the baltimore in the american league east and the orioles beat tampa bay and new york loses the boston. new york and baltimore to be decided. the winner between oakland and texas gets the title and the loser gets the wild card. that is your fox news minute. back to you, tracy. tracy: you got football and basketball. i don't even know what sport is

on tv. happy one of them ending. who is the better regulated? the government or corporate america? this is what we have been asking for a long time now. nick a can is ceo of american electric power and joins us from new york, many of us believe corporations are better off regulating themselves and you do too. >> regulatory structures have to be common sense and operating in to those structures but it has to be common sense but from a corporate perspective we are unable to govern ourselves. unable to govern ourselves. tracy: your company tried to instill them. >> we continue to work with epa and others to work with issues that come out with rules that is difficult for the industry to

meet. the timetables, the retirement of coal-fired generations in this country are dpdificult to o from the timing perspective. and that will happen after the election. tracy: you are at this commit for where ceo policymakers are discussing big ississus. crony capitalism and corporate governance and they feel the need to step in because corporate governance is being ignored and crony capitalism exists. >> clearly incumbent on us to let the corporations continissuo produce jobs in this country. from a government standpoint ssusommon-sense regulations and common sense approaches and legislation that makes sense. for two parties to come together and produce an environment where

business can proper -- tracy: energy security is something you are talking about. the obama administration has done everything they can to destroy all the coal industry. where do you stand on that? >> it is important to realize that coal is an instrumental part of what the country is about and energy policy needs to be balanced that includes coal and natural gas and everything else. the president talks about an energy plan that is an all of the above strategy in> cuding clean coal but the administration and the agencies of the government need to follow suit. we need and all of the above balanced approach that takes into account the risk and also takes advantage of the resources we have in this country. >> i hope you and your smart cronies down there come up with something really good. thanks for getting to us today. you had a tough time traveling.

>> thank you. dennis: hp shares down 9% said their lowest level since 2003. we head to the nyse for why. tracy: as we take down to the fiscal cliff we have a guest that says the damage is already done. let's take a look at today's s&p 500 winners and losers. netflix up 8% today. we will be right back. those little things still get you. for you, life's about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for ily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph,

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nicole: i am nicole petallides on the floor of the stock exchange where every 15 minutes we bring stocks and looking at

hewlett-packard the number one loser in the dow jones industriaver. 15 minutes ago we checked on it with 1590. it has recently hit another new low of 1562. if you track this it goes back to 200e 2 basically a nine year low for hewlett-packard. we are hearing meg whitman and the cfo and the whole idea coming out of that is it is a challenging year ahead. and a rebuilding year, enterprise service revenissu falling and the outlod l is dismal which is why you are seeing stock getting hit harcka tracy: cu in 15 minutes. tracy: to keep the u.s. from going over the fidisal > cpdif. and corporate earnings will suffer. chad mopabanlander joins us.

you could say third quarter or fourth quarter shot no one is doing anythintrav you at least see a second quarter next year and face of this problem. >> the fiscal drag after all is said and done is going to be about 1% so you are looking at 2013 gdp grown by 2%. lackluster 201owth. doesn't mean we are going into a recession but we dostet have th get up and go. tracy: you are expecting earnings to be lackluster. and profit numbers up pretty good. no job line growth. >> margins at an all-time high at corporations which is positive but it is not translating into job u eation. nor is it translating into private u edit creatio is

until that happens the supertanker being the u.s. will not grow at 3% or 4%. will be 1% or 2% number. tracy: we are up 50 points and it is on a tear. market's doing okay. even with the demand gloom you have to be in it. >> this is a monetary induced rally couuaesy of the federal reserve and the ecb and bank of japan and bank of england. at some point there has to be a handoffs between the rally and actual gat gooh au oss the globe. and the 1500 range the rest of pouafolio and the more ssusonse goative. tracy: you going to the text like miu osoft or oracle or ibm or apple. >> large cap technology stocks.

and their growing. and it 201ows their dividend by 14% read the s&p has dividend twro gooh the round p g. tracy: someone said you could pay to wait. let's talk about coach. they were having issues. china really tough for them. gl we at stifle nicholas lhe re coach over the long run. hybrid turn on investor capital piusiness. company that is growing, profitable. very litecee debt and a good brand name. a good buyer for the long l i i there may be volatility so buyer beware. it is in our pouafolicess tracy: thank you so mucod. dennis: american airlines resuming stalled contract negotiations with its pilots union as early as today.

half of american a3 ines' fleet of boeing 747s taken out of service earlier this week to make sure no more of those seats came loose. airline says a.cs t> camp was i turoperly stalled and that ha been corrected. eat your heaua out. twood n his for bald men in the business world. men with shave heads are more madisuline, dominant and better than men with wall or thinning ha3 ? this is based on a study by university of pennsylvania's mouaon dishool. prominent business men are dawning of a look like jeifrey katzenberg and lvif bezos, but they have no choice. they are balcka i prefer my hair even if it is less masculine. tracy: i like a close had shaved head but there is something about going along and a pony trail and blowing in the wind. dennis: tracy will not be a

spokesman for hzer > cub for me if i lose more i would go that route. tracy: cold weather coming. if you eat your home, oil sticker shock may follow. dennis t> chriser sas is not faf the i hate to say that. jeff flock is at a kmart store with the big box disore's lates holiday prep. >> ball heads making a come piack. not blue light specials but something called way away. a big a buouncement from sears and kmart made nationally in 15 minutes. ãoiere on the fhr business netwk in three minutes. stay te,ed.

>> welcome back. wall street continues to move higher following better than expected report on hiring in the private sector. the dollar is higher by 46 points. investors bullish for canes brands after the company affirmed its guidance for the year based on the sales trends seemed last month. the maker of paints and champion expect earnings per share of $2.60. on the flip side metro pc yes shares plunging after announcing a merger with deutsche telekom's t mobile is now official.

$4 a share. it one 75%. even after the merger, the fourth largest cellphone company in the u.s.. that is the latest from the fox business network giving you the power to prosper.

dennis: winter is on the way but the cost of heating your home may make you think twice about cranking up the thermostat. rich edson has the latest. rich: might cost more if you eat your home with natural gas. natural gas supply association just released its winter forecast and based on a handful of factors gas prices will likely be up slightly over last year. >> the big driver and a big story is the weather is forecast to be colder than last year and

that should be something that puts pressure on prices to go up. rich: there is the economy. economic activity leads to more energy use driving the price of. the group expects a flat economy this winter and more cars and trucks and buses slowly switch to natural gas demand increases and so does the price. there is the switch from coal to gas for electricity which they expect to continue though not as much as last year. fairly stable price long-term but that depends on regulations as well. energy co. use a technique called fracking to retrieve natural gas from the ground. the administration is for fracking and the epa is examining the effect on drinking water. tracy: it will be warm. you watch. many consumers looking for an alternative to credit cards.

jeff flock is kmart in chicago with first on fox. >> everything old is new again. something called. and in terms of layaway, and is even bigger. >> we always have waylaid. we are announcing. and through the holidays. >> free lay away. i don't have to come into the store to get it. you can order it or make payments and will ship to your house without coming in to the store. >> take a look at the stocks of the company that are offering layaway this year. some have brought it back. walmart brought it back last year and some are not. you pointed out you have never gone away from way away because

it faded light in thes when we got credit cards and the financial crunch. >> most of our competitors shut the program down. in 2006-2007 ser's always honored core customers who want and need this convenience of railway. >> any item whether it is lawn fertilizer, you can put anything on layaway. >> there is no minimum price to put it on layaway and apparel and toys and electronics. everything on the store can be put in layaway. >> this is big again because people cannot get credit cards and tight credit and some don't want a big credit card. they would rather pay upfront. they don't get it till they pay for it. a lot of people li that. >> for parents' shopping for that hot for you put it on way

away and pay off. i love it. jeff flock, thank you very much. dennis: we have stocks now and u.s. airways is hiring. >> usairways talking about the traffic they have seen in the month of september. it has been pretty good. and more traffic and customers and such. on a day when oil is below $90 a barrel, that helps airlines. let's look at some names. u.s. airways up 7.5% and united continental up 5% and delta airlines up 4%. didn't talk about any seats coming london from inside. that is yesterday's story. let's look at the major market averages. dow jones industrials up 42 points. take any nasdaq is up 1/2%.

back to you. tracy: see you in 15 minutes. microsoft setting up a privacy wall between you and big-name advertisers who track your online moves and taking on a lot of heat for it. dennis: sandra smith watching oil at the cme. we will get some winners on the nasdaq.

tracy: some gains after oil stocks fell over in the past few weeks. >> talking about whether the sell-off incurred is due to the fact that q e 3 may be fading and pending elections or just the global economic slowdown weigh in on prices. this is what the handyman insurance has to say. the primary driver of this market. and the slowdown is weighing on oil prices. i you the latest economic pieces we got out of the service sector slowed in september. before that we got a report that the manufacturing sector slowed. this was the second largest economy in the world only to the united states and major importer of thing like oil and soy and

copper and these are being affected. we watch traders reacted this. look at oil prices down 2%. a drop of $2 despite the fact the we got the energy report this morning that was rather bullish for prices that draw down inventories rather than build inventory showing you the amount of barry's coming out of the woodwork as prices drop below $90 a barrel. what does that mean for gasoline prices? commodity prices are gasoline, down 2%. it has been a long winning streak and gasoline prices finally coming down and oil dropped below $90 a barrel and year-to-date oil prices down 10%. this is a big one for the election and you as global economic data, sensitive to all of that. tracy: hot-button in the

election. >> microsoft with consumers, and ford and coke and walmart and american express miffed at microsoft for an anti tracking feature in internet explorer. instead of tracking every move so advertisers can zap your comments the new version is the other side of do not track unless you change 40 or so marketers fired off a protest letter. and microsoft almost $3 billion the year in advertising. and a new norm no longer should consumers generate data for the industry be left out of the equation and they cannot believe the sponsors giving billions of dollars in advertising and you say do not track.

>> you have all the data in one place and figure out how to track it to modify. >> i chose to put up that i am a fan that i went to this school. when i'm privately searching the web on my own, i am not clear on that. what microsoft is doing is a good way to keep the regulators from coming in with all kinds of bad rules and let the market beside the set of regulators and the business goes better usually. tracy: i you going to choose the coca-cola follow you and figure out what you drink and search? >> i would like it if apple knew what it was doing. i think at some point someone will come up with a new service that says we will pay you for your data and let you sell where you go and every single thing we

do. >> microsoft saying you cannot follow people. dennis: unless we follow our people. americans -- carry around a lot of cash. tracy: which is american express. dennis: advertisers do everything we do. tracy: i would not let you watch. i will be back in an hour with ashley webster and we have the ceo of hardee's restaurants. the health-care law will waive his costs, 150%. find out what he has to say about his business, the election and how he decides. dennis: melissa frances and lori rothman back. look at the drop today in oil prices and the head of the debate neil cavuto live. keep it here on fox business.

♪ dennis: as the debate kickoff tonight, i am reminded between the very first between reagan and carter. in that moment when they are on stage, i thought, oh, my gosh, maybe this guy reagan can do it. i want to see what happens and opening debate. melissa: that is a lot of pressure. lori: pressure here, as well. we will be talking more about the debates. neil cavuto this hour. that should be exciting. i am lori rothman. melissa: i am melissa francis. president obama and mitt romney go head to head in their first debate. neil cavuto is there. he will let us know what we need to listen